The Sandman by Erin Kellison Page A

he couldn’t see anything with the hood over his face. His hands were still bound at his back, and rage spun like dust devils within him, dry and cutting like the Scrape.
    “How can you call yourself Chimera?” Rook, who was ahead of him, said to their captors. “You took an oath .”
    Had Sera been scared? Like lightning, terror lit him, stealing his breath. Had she been in pain? His chest seared for a moment, making him stagger. Sera. Shot.
    She’d promised to marry him, and goddammit, he was going to hold her to that promise. Or whoever was responsible—the senator, for starters, and the Oneiros, too—would understand what vengeance looked like. This wasn’t Harlen’s first war.
    Ahead, he heard a soft clack , the sound of metal knocking, and a metallic squeak. “Watch the step,” Rook’s guard said.
    Harlen followed Rook up two stairs and into the back of a Chimera prisoner-transport truck. The balls on these people. Using Chimera vehicles for Oneiros dirty business. Acting out in the open, as if they had no concern whatsoever about discovery and prosecution. Committing murder.
    His body flashed with pain again, stealing his breath. Sera.
    Rook could drown people who’d been Darkside, but they had to wait for the right moment. Harlen sat on a bench along the left interior of the truck. Rook was silent beside him, probably lost in his own thoughts about Jordan and what she was enduring.
    Worry was warranted. Harlen had seen memory retrievals gone wrong, the confusion and disorientation that subjects experienced following a bad procedure, all in the name of justice. With his proxying expertise, he was no stranger to brutal Rêve practices. Now they even sedated individuals so that they would have no ready defenses to fight.
    Someone else climbed in the back of the transport truck. Smelled feminine.
    “What’s taking so long?” The woman had an older tone to her voice that Harlen recognized. Senator Fleight.
    “They just put her under,” a male voice responded. “Will be a few more minutes.”
    Rook surged in his seat, but his bonds wouldn’t allow him to rise. Yeah, it had to be Jordan they were talking about.
    “I guarantee you will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” Harlen said.
    “Be quiet,” she said.
    Harlen wouldn’t let up. Not ever. “Kidnapping. Reveler oppression. Murder.”
    “I’m breaking many laws,” Senator Fleight said, “but you’ve got a couple wrong. I haven’t killed anyone. Yet.”
    Hope formed a sudden, painful gorge in Harlen’s throat. “Sera?”
    “Act devastated if anyone else asks, but she’ll pull through, thank God,” the senator said. “She got out of surgery. I’m told your father has all the nurses in line.”
    Harlen shuddered. “My father’s there?” Could he dare believe the senator?
    “In return for Jordan Lane’s cooperation, yes.” The senator sighed hugely. “Unfortunately, Jordan reneged on our agreement.”
    Rook’s breathing got heavy at the mention of Jordan.
    Jordan had given herself up to help Sera? Harlen was astounded and grateful beyond anything he could express.
    “Do the retrieval on me ,” Harlen offered. It’s the best he could do for Jordan. “I’ll comply. Just let Jordan go.”
    “Too late for heroics, I’m afraid,” the senator said.
    “She’s not going to let you take her memories,” Rook said, pride evident in his words. “She won’t let you know where Vince and Mirren are.”
    “No, she won’t,” said Senator Fleight. “She’s been very consistent in her refusal, thereby making this whole thing take longer, even if we are skipping the procedure itself.”
    Skipping the procedure? Harlen let out a strangled gasp of relief. If the senator was playing with them…
    “Are you doing the memory retrieval on her or not?” Rook demanded.
    “Not. Just have to make it look like we are, and then she, along with you two, are supposed to be transferred to the Oneiros.”
    That didn’t make sense,